Farther Down The Line
Lyle Lovett Lyrics

Let's have a hand for that young cowboy
Let's applaud and show appreciation for the young cowboy who just competed in the rodeo.

And wish him better luck next time
Let's hope that he does better next time and has more success.

And hope we see him up in Fargo
Let's hope that we see him again in the future, perhaps in Fargo or another place.

Or somewhere farther down the line
Or maybe we'll see him further in the future, down the line.

This time he sure drew a bad one
This time the cowboy got assigned a very difficult animal to ride in the competition.

One that nobody could ride
It was such a difficult animal that no one else was able to stay on it for the required amount of time.

But by the way he pulled his hat on
Despite it being a tough challenge, the cowboy showed determination and prepared himself for the fight.

You knew he'd be there for the fight
It was clear that he was willing and ready to put up a good fight in the competition.

And it's the classic contradiction
It's a common and well-known issue that arises frequently in life.

The unavoidable affliction
It's an issue that can't be escaped or avoided.

Well it don't take much to predict son
It's easy to see and anticipate what will happen in these situations.

The way it always goes
It's a pattern that often repeats itself.

One day she'll say she loves you
A woman might tell a man that she loves him.

And the next she'll be tired of you
But then she might quickly become tired of him.

And push'll always come to shove you
Difficult situations will always arise and test you.

On that midnight rodeo
Especially in the tough and intense environment of a rodeo competition.

He almost made it to the buzzer
The cowboy almost succeeded in staying on the animal for the required amount of time.

Somehow he gave up in the end
But for some reason he ultimately let go and didn't manage to stay on the animal until the end of the ride.

He put one hand around the other
He literally let go of the reins with one hand and didn't manage to hold on any longer.

And let that pickup man on in
He signaled for the pickup man, whose job it is to rescue riders in difficult situations, to come in and save him.

And it was his last chance to ride it
This was his final opportunity to successfully ride the animal in the competition.

And now he'll have to move along
Since he didn't succeed this time, he'll have to move on from this particular event and look to future opportunities.

But he knows back in his mind that
But he's aware deep down that

He won't be away for long
He won't stay away from the competition for long and will be back to try again.